Kristin J. Rosella, Program Director/Marilyn S. Broad Fellow
Ms. Rosell
a is the Marilyn S. Broad Fellow and the Program Director at the IJP where she assists with and supports the representation of victims before the International Criminal Court in The Hague and where she leads the Health and Reparations Project (HARP) and Emergency Response Network for Darfuri Women at Risk.
Prior to joining the IJP, Ms. Rosella was a Program Associate at Women Deliver, a global human rights and maternal health organization, an Associate in the corporate and finance practice group at DLA Piper, LLP (US), an international law firm based in New York, and an Associate in the commercial litigation practice group at Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, an international law firm based in Chicago. She has been a passionate advocate for women’s rights and human rights throughout her legal career and has maintained an active pro bono practice, representing victims of gender-based violence and political-based violence seeking asylum in the United States.
Ms. Rosella received her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2005 and her undergraduate degree from The University of Michigan in 2002. She is licensed to practice law in New York and Illinois and is fluent in French.
Carine Bonduelle, Program Officer
Ms. Bonduelle has been the Program Officer at the IJP since April 2012. She assists Darfurian refugees in applying to participate in the proceedings at the International Criminal Court. Ms. Bonduelle also supports the development of other projects, including “Chasing Bashir” and programs to support Darfurian women and their children living in the U.S.
Ms. Bonduelle received a certificate in Transitional Justice and Peace-building from the United Nations and a Certificate in US Law from New York University. She holds a “French Certificate of Ability to Practice as a Lawyer” from the Bar Training School of Paris (Ecole de Formation du Barreau de Paris-C.A.P.A, two years) and has worked for several French law firms on complex cases, involving International Criminal Law, Extradition and Human Rights issues.
Before becoming a French lawyer specializing in Human Rights, Ms. Bonduelle coordinated the implementation of a judicial reform working for the European Union in Togo. She also assessed the Gacaca Courts’ system, working for Penal Reform International (an English NGO) in Rwanda, where she lived 12 years but had to leave before the 1994 Genocide.
Ms. Bonduelle earned a bachelor degree and graduate degree (in Judicial Careers & Criminal Science) from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and she earned her post-graduate degree from the University of Paris12 Créteil (European Law).
Esther Moedden, Program Associate
Esther Moedden received her law degree from the University of Osnabrueck in Germany in 2012. In addition to her semester abroad in Paris she got first practical work experiences during her internship at the CDU/CSU-Fraction in the German Bundestag, where she assists the Group of Women. Aiming at a professional career in the field of international law, particularly criminal law and human rights advocacy she wants to continue her studies in this area by passing a Master of Laws degree.
Joy Foley, Program Coordinator – Darfurian Emergency Network
Joy Foley is a senior at Hunter College pursuing a degree in Sociology and Human Rights. Joy is very passionate about the universality of Human Rights and Social Justice. Her dream job would be to work at a NGO with an emphasis on Africa. She is the Co-director of Mission of Mercy Uganda, which is a small organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for Ugandans through comprehensive healthcare and education. She travels to Northern Uganda each summer.
Jessica Couleur, Phoenix Project Manager & IJP Volunteer
Ms. Couleur is a long-time friend of the refugee community in Phoenix, Arizona, having worked with families and children from South Sudan, Afghanistan, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She received her MBA from Arizona State University and spent 20 years in operations finance, primarily in hi-tech and international operations. She began volunteering with Darfurian refugees in 2007, and she has volunteered with the International Rescue Committee and Phoenix Save Darfur. Currently, she is pursuing her certification in special education and is actively tutoring and mentoring refugee children (grade school through high school). She loves to travel and has been to Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya.
AA, Darfurian Activist, Community Outreach Leader, & IJP Volunteer
“AA” was born in Darfur, the Sudan where she lived with her family until her village was attacked and burned by the government. After some of her family members were killed, their property and animals stolen, and their home destroyed, AA and her remaining family were forced to flee from Darfur to Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum. Eventually, she made her way from Khartoum to Egypt where she began her advocacy and outreach work by volunteering as the Secretary of Darfurian Women for two years in her community. She received special recognition for her work, and in 2003, she traveled to the United States as a refugee. Prior to joining the IJP, AA continued her work as Secretary of Darfurian Women in Utah, where she first lived, and then, in Arizona. She also volunteered for a U.S. advocacy organization called Darfur Solidarity USA.
AA received her high school diploma from KabKabiya in Darfur and her GED from Horizonte High School in Utah in 2009. In addition, she completed two semesters of ESL classes at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona, and currently, she is enrolled in ESL classes in New Jersey. She hopes to continue her education and pursue a college degree in the near future. AA lives in New Jersey with her daughter.
HS, Darfurian Activist, Human Rights Defender, Community Leader & IJP Volunteer
The oldest of 10 children and a member of the Fur tribe, “HS” was born in Darfur, Sudan. When she was 17 years old, her village was attacked, burned and destroyed by the Sudanese government, through air bombings. Her family’s belongings were stolen, 100 members of her family died and the Sudanese government’s militia raped women and young girls in her community as well as kidnapped several of her family members. In 2003, HS and her surviving family members were forced to go to an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, where she would stay for nine years. HS and her family lived among 86,000 internally displaced persons, most of whom were women and children.
Throughout her nine years at the IDP camp, HS witnessed many different kinds of atrocities as well as a lack of humanitarian aid, education, security and healthcare. In addition to taking care of her family throughout her years at the camp, HS became a human rights defender and sought to bring to light the crimes that the Sudanese government had committed. As a prominent voice for IDP’s, HS met with several human rights organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme, the International Rescue Committee and the United Nations Mission in Darfur, as well as delegations from countries around the world, to brief them about the situation in Sudan and her own personal experiences. Because of this, HS was targeted by the Sudanese government and was repeatedly arrested, kidnapped, tortured and humiliated. Eventually, HS was arrested once again and sentenced to death. Because of pressure from various human rights organizations, activists and the US government, HS was eventually released from jail and fled to Cairo, Egypt in 2011.
In Egypt, HS was nominated as an “International Woman of Courage” by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. In 2012, she was selected as one of the ten winners of the award and was brought to the U.S. in March of 2012. She was presented the award by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama. Today, HS travels around the U.S. to educate and inform government officials, human rights and humanitarian organizations, educational institutions, diplomats from other countries and members of the UN Security Council about the genocide and the situation in Darfur, and the rest of Sudan, as well as the suffering and the needs of the IDP’s and her own experience in Sudan.
HS continues to advocate, through these meetings and rallies, for support for the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decisions to bring the perpetrators of the genocide to justice. She now resides in New Jersey and works with IJP to gain support for the ICC and helps bring Darfurian people in the U.S. together. A graduate of a Darfurian university, HS would like to continue her education in the U.S. and become a leader for the people of Sudan, and maybe even the next President of Sudan. In the meantime, she remains committed to empowering Sudanese women in both the U.S. and Sudan to become leaders and hopes to get the chance to visit marginalized Darfurian and Sudanese communities around the world.
OK, Darfurian Activist, Community Outreach Leader, & IJP Volunteer
Born in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, “OK” is a member of the Fur tribe, causing her and her large extended family to often travel between the capital and Darfur. Although many of OK’s older relatives were discouraged from going to school by the Sudanese government, who were afraid of educating Sudanese citizens, OK’s father greatly valued education for his children. With her father’s encouragement, OK graduated from high school and college, with a major in Communications. As a student in Sudan, she hoped to become a lawyer.
However, the situation in Darfur began to rapidly deteriorate in the late 1990s. OK married and moved to Egypt for several years before immigrating to Phoenix, AZ in 2004. There, she gave birth to a daughter in 2005 and a son in 2009. Wanting to help the refugee community in Phoenix, OK reached out to Phoenix Save Darfur and began working with them.
OK started a group for women and children in 2006 called the Darfur Women’s & Children’s Association, and for the past five years, she has been working with Phoenix Project Manager & IJP Volunteer Jessica Couleur to improve refugee life in Phoenix. OK’s group for women and children meets monthly to discuss important community issues and often holds emergency meetings to help families in need. OK’s main focus is improving educational opportunities for children in the refugee community. She hopes to start a children’s library, clothing bank and tutoring program for refugee families from Sudan and is in the process of registering her group as a nonprofit organization. In the future, OK would like to continue her education, and ultimately, open a business with her husband.
